Nonlethal electric barriers for control of ricefield rats

Previous laboratory and field data have shown that ricefield rats (R.
r. mindanensis) can be repelled with a prototype electric barrier--two
electrodes and two ground wires spaced 15 cm apart and fastened to a
35- to 45-cm poultry wire barrier. A major problem with this configu-
ration is the high cost of materials. In order to evaluate modified
designs, made with less expensive materials, two versions of the
prototype barrier were compared with three plastic net configurations
in an 240 cm X 60 cm X 120 cm laboratory observation chamber.

Infrared closed-circuit television was used to monitor the fence-
climbing behavior of individual ricefield rats (n = 15 per barrier
design). The test animals were fasted and subsequently exposed to a
small amount of whole rice on the opposite side of the barrier.

As shown in Table 11, the fewest crossings and the lowest percentage
of successful attempts occurred with the plastic net III design.
This configuration consisted of two grounded electrodes (10 and 30 cm
above ground) and three active electrodes (5, 15, and 35 cm above
ground level). These data indicate that less expensive and more
readily available materials can be used with essentially no loss in
efficacy as compared with wire barriers--at least under laboratory
conditions.